Angel Pays the Rent
by lonelyxlovely
Summary: A series of oneshots giving explanations as to how Angel payed for everything during season 1 when he was in that apartment.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own any 'Buffy' characters.

**Author's Note: **This is my first oneshot, so beware! Hopefully I'm hoping to make this a series of onshots about how Angel made money to pay rent and for blood from the butcher as Joss never mentioned anything about it, but he had to be making money somehow...maybe I just missed something...I dunno, but please R&R! (This first one is the result of complete boredom.) This takes place sometime after the episode 'Angel' in season 1.

**Orders**

The light from the heat lamps glared off of the stainless steel grill. A few people stood on the other side of counter, but not many.

Angel stood over the basket of fries and sighed as the timer dinged. He took them out of the grease half-heartedly and dumped them onto the rack. He couldn't believe he was working in this place. It made the people who worked there smell awful and he knew sooner or later another vampire was going to say something. He couldn't even imagine what would ensue if Buffy or one of her friends came in here.

"I need a Doublemeat Meal," he heard the night manager call out.

He filled the metal fry scooper with fries and filled one of the sacks that sat neatly by the grease. He handed it to the petite brunette who was placing everything in a brown paper meal bag.

She looked tired and judging from the dark bags under her eyes, she hadn't had a decent night's sleep in days. Angel felt for her, but knew there was nothing he could do for her. All he knew about her was that she was a 36 year old divorcee with 2 kids at home; her name was Deena.

Deena gave him half a smile as she took the greasy potatoes. Angel turned back to his "duty" as she folded the bag over and handed it to the awaiting customer.

Angel watched as she then took off her beachball colored Doublemeat Palace hat and headed to the back door.

"See you tomorrow," she said to no one in particular as she walked out the door.

The door clicked shut behind ehr and everyone continued to work, barely noticing that she had gone.

Angel's attention went dully back to the popping grease. A shrill scream caught his attention as he dumped a fresh batch of frozen french fries into the grease. He nervously watched them slide in and set the timer.

Outside, he heard begging and sobbing. It sounded like Deena.

"Going for a break," he muttered as he walked out the door.

Deena's greasy scent was still fresh. Blood could be faintly detected as well. The scents led to the small line of trees that was behind the Doublemeat Palace.

Angel rushed to them and found Deena, scratched and torn, with a vampire in full gameface. She was sobbing and a twisted smile was alight on the vampire's face. The vamp grabbed her and bit in with a wet sickly crunch. Deena whimpered and sobbed harder.

"Hey," Angel bellowed to get the other vampire's attention.

He looked up at Angel. It smiled adn held Deena tighter to himself. Again, she whimpered.

"She's mine," he informed Angel.

Angel charged at him, not wanting to waste anymore time, making him drop Deena who fell weakly to the ground. The other vampire took the blow full in the belly. He fell to the ground in a heap. Angel grabbed him by the shoulders and thrust him up.

"Okay," the vamp said, "She's all yours."

"And your dust," Angel told him as he forced a sturdy twig through his unbeating heart.

He looked at Angel in disbelief before dissolving into dust.

"Good work," a familiar voice said.

Angel turned to come face to face with Whistler. Angel groaned a little. This guy really got on his nerves. True, he had shown Angel a better way to live, but the short demon could be annoying.

"What do you want this time?" Angel asked keeping his temper in check.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" Whistler asked, ignoring Angel's question. "Feels right."

"She was in trouble and I helped. That's it," Angel replied nonchallantly.

"Might help if that wasn't all," Whistler said before turning and walking back into the line of trees.

Angel sighed and picked Deena's unconscious body up from off the ground. He carried her back into the Doublemeat Palace. Still unconscious, he propped her up in one of the booths by the window.

The night manager and the boy at the grill hadn't noticed him come back in. At else not until he walked behind the counter.

"What took you?" the manager demanded.

Angel looked at her with a blank expression. He couldn't believe he was the only one in here to hear anything or see Deena.

"The fries are ruined," she continued.

When Angel still didn't react, she spoke again.

"Well?"

Angel took off his Doublemeat Palace hat and threw it on the counter. The torn dirt-clad shirt followed.

The night manager watched dumbfoundedly as Angel walked out the door, with a bloody Deena in his arms.


End file.
